Yummy day

Last Saturday was the first Especially Delicious baking course and what a wonderful day it was! 

Seven ladies and one gentleman who were gluten free themselves or cooking for someone who is came to the cookery school in Battersea to learn new ways of baking gluten free foods. 

The morning menu was bread rolls, sausage rolls, smoked salmon tarts and garlic bread which we enjoyed for lunch along with some tasty salads. Then in the afternoon my fabulous assistant, Rosie, and I demonstrated how to make cupcakes, cookies and doughnuts. 

Everyone said they had a great day and learnt lots that they take away do at home. Here's a lovely testimonial from one of the ladies on the course

I attended the one day gluten free baking course organised by Sarah Jones of
Especially Delicious. It was truly inspirational as I learnt how to cook
gluten and dairy free pastry not only for bread but also flaky and short
crust pastry as well as pizza dough! We cooked delicious items for lunch
including sausage rolls and in the afternoon were shown how to produce
doughnuts, sugar cookies and a classic vanilla sponge. Sarah was very
patient and answered all our questions. Thank you Sarah for a fantastic day.
I shall enjoy producing these recipes at home. This course is well
recommended - we covered so much in one day.

Our next course is on  7th May. You can book your place here today http://glutenfreebaking.co.uk/

Sarah 

Pancakes are for life not just Shrove Tuesday

I was meant to post this yesterday but plans went a bit awry and I didn't manage it. So I was thinking last night about what to do and thought- hey I have pancakes all year round and this recipe is too good not to share!

Pancake day has always been a big deal for me. When I was growing up my mum made delicious pancakes for us to enjoy on Shrove Tuesday and she often gives up something treasured for Lent, so, there was always a celebration tone to pancake day when I was little.

Now a days I've just happened to marry a man who makes the best gluten free pancakes ever! I can't quite remember how our Sunday morning pancake tradition started but it's now a firm fixture in our life and this is his recipe. It makes around 6 to 8 thin pancakes, less if you like them a bit thicker as is Mr Especially Delicious's preference.

Ingredients
145g Doves Farm Plain Gluten Free Flour
Good pinch of salt
1 Large Egg
255mls Milk
75mls Water
Knob of Melted butter (unsalted English butter is best)

Method
Sift flour and salt into large bowl
Combine milk and water
Make well in centre and add egg
Add half of milk and water mixture and mix with fork until combined (don't worry if it's a bit lumpy at this stage). Then add remaining milk and water and combine with fork again. Then grab a balloon whisk and whisk until smooth and no lumps left.
Pour batter into large jug (find this is best way of pouring)
Get a large frying pan really hot, add a knob of butter and swirl around until melted.
Slowly pour batter into pan to the thickness you like (you can use ladel if that feels more familiar)
When the pancake has set on top flip over (or use a fish slice to turn) and cook on the other side for 30 seconds or so.
And voila you have a yummy gluten free pancake.
Repeat this process with remaining batter until you have stuffed yourself silly! Top pancakes with your favourite flavours. I'm a lemon and sugar kinda girl and Mr Especially Delicious loves golden syrup and bananas!
There is no need to rest the batter, it's in fact better when you make the pancakes straight away. If the batter does sit for a while make sure to give it a good whisk before making.

Sarah

Your Dream Wedding Cake......

Deciding on your wedding cake can be a very enjoyable part of organising a wedding but sometimes it can feel a bit overwhelming with all the different options out there.

Good cake makers and designers should be able to come up with design suggestions based on information about your day but we are more likely to come up with your perfect design quicker when you have an idea of what you like and don’t like.

Here is our quick guide to help you to have your dream wedding cake.

1.      Deciding the number tiers you would like

This is usually done by the number of guests you are having. As a quick guide 2 tiers serve around 60 portions, 3 tiers- 100 portions, 4 tiers 150 portions. There is the option to have ‘dummy’ tiers too if you would like more tiers than the number of guests to serve. These are made out of Styrofoam to look cake and are decorated in exactly the same way as regular cakes.

2.     What style of wedding cake would you like?

There are four main styles of wedding cakes- stacked, pillared, stand and cupcakes, which are illustrated below. They sky is the limit with design options though, so if you have something quirky in mind I’m sure you will have no problem in finding a suitable cake maker.

                    

             Stacked                                                                     Pillared

         Stand                                                                          Cupcakes

3.      What type of decorations to go for

This is where you can let your imagination go wild! Popular options are to incorporate flowers, colours and themes running throughout the day but you can have pretty much anything you like on a cake. Sugar and fresh flowers to match your bouquet and wedding flowers can be a lovely pretty option or you can go for something very striking with bright colours and decorations such as stripes and motifs. Your wedding cake designer will help you with this if unsure what to go for.

4.      Choosing flavours

Traditionally all wedding cakes were fruit cakes but nowadays many people prefer the lighter sponge flavours. You can have a different flavour for each tier and most cake decorators offer a wide range of flavours you can choose from.

5.      The cost

People often wonder why wedding cakes cost hundreds of pounds. The simple answer is time and expertise. Wedding cakes are so much more than flour, butter, sugar and eggs!

Making a wedding cake that will fulfil all your expectations is a time-consuming process. Wedding cakes take several days to design, bake, construct and decorate because we need to ensure that you get a high quality product right down to the smallest details.

When you take all these factors into consideration you can understand that you are paying for an expertly crafted piece of edible art that you will remember for a life time.

We love nothing more than creating dream wedding cakes, here at Especially Delicious. Call me on 020 8944 0373 to arrange a wedding consultation appointment. This is where we meet up for a coffee in a convenient location and you tell me all about your wedding cake dreams and I'll come up with design suggestions. You'll also get a wedding cake taster pack to take away with you. 

Much love, 

Sarah 

Happy Holidays

I have just come back from a long weekend away from North Cornwall. I normally do lots of research into the best places to go for gluten free food when we go away but I didn't get chance this time and was very pleasantly surprised by the amount of pubs and restaurants we went in that marked gluten free options on their menu or when I enquired to what I could eat said that they would adapt anything on the menu.

I feel a real change in the hospitalities perception of catering for special diets and I think within a few years it will be the norm to have gf marked on menus.

It's so nice now not to be classed as odd or awkward when eating out. There are of course still places that look at you like you are from out of space when you inform them that you are on a gluten free diet but thankfully these are becoming the rarity.

So if you run a establishment get ahead of the game and please a large majority of your customers by accepting gluten freer's with open arms.

If you are stuck for recipes why not come on our gluten free baking course. 

Here are the places we went to and had yummy gf food at the weekend.
http://www.st-mellion.co.uk/dine/
http://www.thehornofplenty.co.uk/
http://www.whodhavethoughtitinn.co.uk/
http://www.route38.co.uk/default.htm


Sarah